4B Friday, April 1, 1988/University Daily Kansan
THE FINAL FOUR
Fan-tastic! Silverdome trip a ride to remember
By Stacy Foster Kansan staff writer
We were not rude, at least not in the first half. We cheered when the Jayhawks scored, stole the ball or were fouled. But when we showed spirit, one guy yanked on my shirt like a policeman accosting a prostitute and told me to sit down.
Sit down after driving 80 miles to watch the Jahayhaws play? Sit down during a two-point ballgame with a trip to the Final Four on the line? Where is this guy's school spirit? He was some old stuffy K-State alum mad because we were having a better time than he was.
A better game could not have beer played. I don't remember how much time was left, maybe three minutes, but the Jayhawks started to pull away. I thought I would burst with excitement. I could not cheer loud enough. I could not jump high enough. The thought that the Jayhawks might make it to the Final Four was more than my little red head could comprehend.
We were jumping up and down uncontrollably, hugging everyone. I even thought about hugging that grouchy K-State alum. The Jayhawks were going to win. The Jayhawks were going to the Final Four.
In my excitement after the game, I stumbled over the press table to get to the court and watch the team cut the net. I saw Archie. I waited with anticipation for Chris and Danny to make the final cuts on the net. I could have touched them. I wanted to touch them. I had never been so close to that kind of excitement. I had always seen students from other schools cheering as their team cut down the nets. I never had imagined that one day I might actually be in the middle of such a crowd.
My friends might hate me now because I got a ticket to the Final Four. By some strange twist of fate, I filled out a lottery application for the Big Eight tournament and all post-season play. I never thought the Jayhawks would have made it this far, but there must have been a subconscious part of me that knew better.
I'm going to Kansas City. Kansas City here I come.
But at 9:20 p.m on March 24, when my three friends and I left for Detroit, we never thought we would experience so much excitement. We blew by the eighteen-wheelers chanting Jayhawk cheers on lonely dark highways in search of other Kansas cars.
We didn't see many, just a lone Bronco in the middle of Illinois; the passengers were from Kansas State University. We followed the Bronco into Indianapolis, where the driver had enough sense to stop. As for us, we were determined to get to Detroit as soon as possible, which meant driving through an early morning, blinding rainstorm that I thought would threaten our safe arrival.
Were we crazy? What was I thinking when I planned this trip? It was hell.
We left late at night. We didn't sleep. Four vibrant college students
Darnelle
remembers story after story about Danny's unselfishness and caring attitude.
Continued from p.1B
She remembers the time he gave his football jersey to a player who didn't have one and the time he helped a girl with cerebral palsy learn how to serve herself in the school caferteria. And she always will remember Danny's paper route.
recovered.
"People wouldn't pay on his route, and I didn't think it was going to work out. But Dan said that everyone deserves three chances. He kept delivering papers to those people and he kept trying to collect the money. He just didn't want to give up on them."
From the banquets, the homework and the ballgames, a special relationship evolved between Danny and his mother, but Darnelle said it was the same relationship that every mother and son have.
"I just did what had to be done. I did what any mother would have done." Darnelle said.
done, Darlene said.
Now, Darnelle finds herself being
Danny's support system for the Final
Four and for the future.
Four and a half years ago
"She keeps my head on straight.
She definitely keeps me balanced," Danny said.
Darnettle and Erd routinely would play down Danny's awards to make sure his ego did not outrun his talent.
"I didn't want Dan to think the world revolved around him," nelle said. "I just wanted him to realize that there are lots of things in Mississippi that black people could not. I always told him that it's nothing Dawn or he couldn't do. The sky's the limit to what they can accomplish."
can accomplish. Darnelle looked at the empty space on the wall next to the framed copy of Sports Illustrated that had Danny on the cover and smiled. With that smile, she may have just realized that there was nothing Danny couldn't accomplish.
cramped in a small four-door car is not conducive to having a good time. But no matter how bad it seemed, we knew that seeing the Jayhawks was worth any amount of agony. It was a sacrifice worth taking.
little did I realize that 72 hours later, our road from hell would be part of my road to the Final Four.
During the trip, we discussed strategies the Jayhawks might use. We talked about the Jayhawks beating Vanderbilt. We talked about who the Jayhawks might play next.
Fourteen hours later, we arrived in Detroit, worn and weary but full of excitement for the game later that day.
We waited anxiously in line outside the Silverdome for our tickets. The Kansas tickets were a little slow arriving, about 30 minutes. I thought there was going to be an angry stampede of KU fans if the tickets didn't show up soon.
The tickets arrived. Finally, we were in.
The Silverdome holds 80,600 people. You could fit my home town in it about five times. You could probably fit all of southcentral Kansas in it. This was not Allen Field House. This was not even a Kemper Arena.
The Jayhawks, with another outstanding Danny Manning performance, soundly beat the Commodores. The party had just begun. The KU crow was on the verge of hysteria, and the agonizing road trip was forgotten. The Jayhawks would play in the championship game.
During the second game, I cheered for the Wildcats — the underdogs. I was glad they won. My sister goes to Kansas State University, so I don't have all the animosity that some Jayhawks fans have for our interstate rival. I also wanted a chance for the two teams to play again. No way would the Jayhawks lose to them three times. I wanted to make my sister eat it.
Friday night after the games, we drove around for an hour looking for our hotel. We couldn't remember where our hotel was. It was midnight, and we were lost in Detroit. When we stopped at a gas station, the attendant must have known we were out of town. He told me to be careful, that I wasn't in a safe part of town. Luckily, we got back to our
Saturday night, my friend didn't care that Danny whooped it up on Will Perdle. She whooped it up with Will on the dance floor at a local bar. I danced with one of his friends. I think he was a manager. Perdle told us not to tell anybody. We told everybody.
hotel safe and sound.
The game Sunday was the ultimate in basketball games. It would be a game that KU and K-State fans would talk about for years to come. Two interstate rivals from a conference that seems to get little respect were playing for the Midwest Regional Championship. The Jayhawks and the Wildcats were playing on national television in front of about 30,000 fans for a trip to the Final Four.
Sports Illustrated already had Vanderbilt and Purdue in the Final Four. I wonder what they're saying now. They saved face by giving us the glass slipper.
We were in the second row behind the K-State bench, about seven seats from Gov. Mike Hayden. We were right in front of 200 screaming K-State fans. We held our breath as people left in, hoping we weren't in someone else's seats.
We were so close to the game that we could see the players sweat. We heard Charles Bledsoe complain when he got fouled. And we made certain he heard us.
To say the K-State alumnus lacked good sportsmanship is an understatement. They yelled at Danny. One guy said Manning should have fouled out in the first half. They of course thought that Richmond was infallible and that Bledsoe was getting cheap fouls called on him.
The K-State fans could cry all they want, and they did. The Jayhawks beat them. The Jayhawks crushed them.
The trip home was certainly not the same one we took to get to Detroit. Kansas fans were everywhere. As we passed them on the highway, we honked our horns and cheered. The grueling road trip now was a 14-hour celebration. As the sun went down that evening, I knew I was going to Kansas City. Kansas City here I come.
CONGRATULATIONS JAYHAWKS on your Final Four Success 842-1212 PIZZA SHUTTLE 842-1212 "NO COUPON SPECIALS"
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